The field of the invention relates to pressing materials such as foodstuffs, and particularly, relates to pressing tofu.
Tofu is a food product prepared by coagulating soymilk and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks of varying softness. Commercially, a block of tofu may come packed in a pool of liquid. The block of tofu may be used as is after removal from the pool of liquid, but some uses of the tofu call for it to be pressed to remove some or most of the liquid from the block. The removal of some or most of the liquid from the tofu may leave it better able to absorb spices, marinades, sauces, flavorings, broth and the like. The removal of some or most of the liquid from the tofu also may change the softness or density of the tofu.
There are challenges, however, to removing some or most of the liquid from the tofu. For example, the tofu may be wet when removed from its pool of liquid in the commercial container, and the block of tofu may drip that water making for a leaky mess. Another example is that pressing the tofu may squeeze out liquid that also may lead to a leaky mess. Further, another challenge to removing some or most of the liquid from tofu is what to use to press the liquid out of the tofu. Any heavy object may work, but it may come in contact with the tofu and become soiled with the tofu or the liquid pressed out of it. Also, an arbitrary heavy object may not exert pressure on the tofu uniformly and may result in uneven results in the tofu. Excessive pressure from a heavy object may result in the tofu deforming and/or cracking.
Thus, there may be a need for a way to remove some or most of the liquid from tofu that overcomes at least the challenges mentioned above.